<>The Committee of the Regions (CoR) has offered its full support to a pan-European climate change campaign recently launched by the European Commission. The campaign entitled "A world you like. With the climate you like" seeks to raise awareness about the environmental and economic benefits of moving to a low-carbon society. The CoR agreed to back the campaign and promote the project by helping raise awareness and mobilise citizens in Europe's cities and regions.

President of the Committee of the Regions, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, pointed to the role of cities stressing the crucial importance of urban sustainable development as a means of mitigating climate change: "Many initiatives are taking place across Europe's cities and regions as part of our shared fight to combat climate change. These solutions show that we need to continue to support innovation and invest locally to maintain the momentum, as cities are key drivers for sustainable growth".

Connie Hedegaard, the European Commissioner for Climate Action, welcomed the CoRs' involvement adding that: "Europe is full of good examples where cities, municipalities and local regions make climate action, job creation and economic benefits go hand in hand. Our campaign is about highlighting these good examples and contributing to bringing the good practices to scale".

The partnership will be an opportunity to raise visibility about the many achievements on climate change mitigation and adaptation that are already taking place at a local and regional level. Ugo Cappellacci (IT/EPP), Chair of the CoRs' Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy, stated that: "This excellent initiative shows that across Europe the will to combat climate change is there. It is an opportunity for us to show that our cities and regions are taking an active role in driving forward much needed green sustainable growth".

The Commission's climate change campaign seeks to contribute to the EU's objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, improve energy efficiency by 20% and boosting the share of renewable in the energy mix to 20% by 2020. It also feeds into long-term plans set out to reduce greenhouse emissions to 80-95% below 1990 levels by 2050. The campaign is being implemented across all EU member states online and via social media, with events scheduled in Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Spain this spring.

The Committee of the Regions is the EU's assembly of regional and local representatives. The mission of its 344 members from all 27 EU Member States is to involve regional and local authorities and the communities they represent in the EU's decision-making process and to inform them about EU policies. The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council are obliged to consult the Committee in policy areas affecting regions and cities. It can appeal to the EU Court of Justice if its rights are infringed or it believes that an EU law infringes the subsidiarity principle or fails to respect regional or local powers.